Bible Studies
Lessons In Loyalty
Series: Studies in Second SamuelIntroduction:
1. King David had despised the Lord. He had given the enemies of God occasion to blaspheme. 2. He had committed adultery with Bathsheba and sought to cover his sin by murdering her husband Uriah. 3. His sin resulted in both immediate and long-term consequences. The child born to Bathsheba died but this was only the beginning of David’s grief. 4. God said the sword would not depart from his family. Evil would be in his household and his wives would be publically given to his companion. 5. As the account unfolds David’s son Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar. Her brother Absalom wreaks his revenge by slaying Amnon and fleeing Jerusalem. He returns only to take control of the throne and David must flee his capital city. Absalom pitches a tent on the roof and humiliates his father by going in to his wives in a public display of his power. In the ensuing battle between David’s forces and those of Absalom, Absalom is killed and David’s grief overwhelms him. 6. He covered his face and cried, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” 7. The next section of David’s history recounts his coming back to Jerusalem, but the account raises the important issue of loyalty.a. Will David prove loyal to his people?
b. Will the people prove themselves loyal to David?
8. Loyalty is such an important part of relationships. What can we learn from this period of David’s life?Discussion:
I. God was loyal to David even though David had sinned against him.A. God said, “You have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Sam. 12:10).
1. David had not been loyal to Uriah.
2. David had not been loyal to God.
B. We might interpret the consequences to David’s sin and say, “God was not loyal to David.”
1. Such would be untrue.
2. God said, “It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!” (12:7-8).
3. God was not being disloyal when David experienced some of the consequences to his sin.
a. God forgave David, but God sacrificed His own son so that David could be forgiven.
b. God was not “beating David down” with the consequences. God was maintaining his justice,thus removing the justification for His enemies to blaspheme.
4. God was not being disloyal to David, but faithful both to his personal justice and to David by taking the ultimate consequence of David’s sin upon Himself.
II. David’s grief over Absalom questioned his loyalty to the people (19:5-6).A. You must consider how your loyalty to one affects your loyalty to others.
B. I had a friend who lost a child in death.
1. She described to me how she went through an extended period of extreme grief.
2. She said she finally realized the effect that this was having on her other child.
3. She concluded that she could not allow her loyalty to her deceased child to make her disloyal to the child who was living.
C. You may find yourself in situations where your loyalty to one person questions your loyalty to another.
1. I certainly do not have all the answers to such situations.
2. I do know that you need to be loyal to the Lord no matter what.
a. Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matt. 10:37).
b. We have given up fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers in order to be loyal to the Lord.
3. We need to be loyal to what is right, to our spouses, to our family, to the people of God.
III. Will the people be loyal to King David? (19:9-15).A. Israel debated the question (9-10).
B. Will Judah be loyal to David (11ff)? They went out to meet him to bring him across the Jordan.
IV. Shimei, who had cursed David when he left Jerusalem, confessed loyalty to him now, and David acted with loyalty to Shimei (16-23).A. Sometimes we are disloyal and live to regret it.
1. Such was the case for Shimei.
2. Shimei had cursed David when he left Jerusalem (16:5ff).
a. He threw stones at David and all those with him.
b. He cursed, “Get out, get out, you man of bloodshed, and worthless fellow! The Lord has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. And behold, you are taken in your own evil, for you are a man of bloodshed!” (16:8).
B. There are occasions when we are called on to be loyal to those that have not been loyal to us. Such was the case for David.
1. On these occasions we can execute our wrath
2. Or we can be loyal to those who have cursed us.
3. That is what God has been to us.
V. Mephibosheth and David confirmed their loyalty to one another (24-30).A. David had made a covenant with Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan, many years earlier (1 Sam. 20:14ff).
1. David had always been faithful to that covenant.
2. Time did not cause David to forget the promise he had made to Jonathan.
3. Even now he was loyal to Mephibosheth.
4. But Mephibosheth had not left Jerusalem with David. Why?
5. The answer is found in Mephibosheth’s servant Ziba. He had betrayed Mephibosheth. See 2 Sam. 16:1ff. Mephibosheth was planning to leave with David. His servant was to prepare the donkeys for Mephibosheth was lame. Ziba, the servant, prepared, took a gift to David and left Mephibosheth behind. He told David that Mephibosheth said that now the people would make him king.
B. Lessons.
1. Do not let time cause you to forget your promises of loyalty.
2. Do not slanderously destroy loyalties in order to advance yourself.
3. Prove yourself loyal through time. Allow those who slander you to be proven disloyal.
VI. Barzilla and David confirmed their loyalty to one another (31ff).A. Barzillai had sustained David in Mahanaim after David had fled Jerusalem (2 Sam. 17:24ff).
B. Now he came down to the Jordan as David was preparing to return to Jerusalem to cast his support with David.
C. He is 80 years old.
D. Be loyal even in your old age.
1. Barzillai was loyal to David.
2. He was also loyal to Chimham making a loyalty connection for him with David.
VII. Sheba’s revolt (19:40-20:1ff).A. This is not the end of the question of loyalties.
1. Judah and half of Israel have confirmed their loyalty to David.
2. On his way up to Jerusalem the rest of Israel confronts him.
3. They ask the men of Judah why have you stolen him away when it was our idea for him to be king again? A confrontation ensued where Judah and Israel spoke harshly to each other. Judah was harsher in their words.
B. Sheba took advantage of the situation to withdraw from following David.
1. David called on Amasa to pursue Sheba. He delayed in carrying out the command. Was he sympathetic to Sheba’s cause?
2. Amasa had been the captain of the Absalom’s army. Was David testing his loyalty by commanding him to put down the revolt?
3. What happened was Joab went after Sheba. Amasa came to meet them, evidently to join forces, but Joab struck him in the belly with a sword.
C. Sheba’s revolt was quelled when Joab besieged the city where Sheba held up.
1. A woman proposed giving up Sheba in order to save the city.
2. His head was throne over the wall.
Conclusion:
1. Loyalty is a critical issue in relationships. 2. We need to be loyal to God, loyal to right, loyal to our spouses, loyal to our family and to the people of God.
